Exact imagination, late work

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Nicholsen's "Exact Imagination, Late Work" is a profound exploration of Adorno's aesthetics, revealing the deep connection between his aesthetic theories and compositions. While much English-language scholarship has sought to contextualize Adorno, Nicholsen argues for a more imaginative appropriation of his ideas, emphasizing the aesthetic dimension's centrality in his thought. Adorno's concept of "exact imagination" merges knowledge, subjective experience, and aesthetic form, distinguishing it from creative imagination as a form of nondiscursive rationality. This notion posits that truth is discovered through reconfiguring material, making knowledge inseparable from the imaginative form it takes. The term "late work" refers to the disjunction between subjectivity and objectivity, with Adorno’s own oeuvre embodying this concept. Nicholsen's exploration is structured around five interconnected essays derived from Adorno's aesthetic writings, addressing themes such as subjective aesthetic experience, the historicity of artworks, Adorno's conception of language, and the relationship between artwork, aesthetic experience, and philosophy. Additionally, the essays subtly unravel Adorno's engagement with Walter Benjamin's ideas. Overall, Nicholsen's work forms a constellation that highlights the inseparability of aesthetic form and nondiscursive rationality.